The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 06.03.20

Master Sergeant Troy Drasher had the most difficult, emotionally challenging job I have ever heard of inside or outside the military.  When his air force doc recommended he “take a little something to take the edge off,” his life gradually declined into nightmare under the impact of psychiatric drugs.  To the rescue came Dr. Mary Neal Vieten’s Warfighter Advance, one of the best recovery programs I have ever learned about.    You will rarely hear such clarity brought to the difference between psychiatry and genuine help.  Please listen to his story and his recovery.

 

 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 05.27.20

Master Sergeant Troy Dasher had the most difficult, emotionally challenging job I have ever heard of inside or outside the military.  When his air force doc recommended he “take a little something to take the edge off,” his life gradually declined into nightmare under the impact of psychiatric drugs.  To the rescue came Dr. Mary Neal Vieten’s Warfighter Advance, one of the best recovery programs I have ever learned about.    You will rarely hear such clarity brought to the difference between psychiatry and genuine help.  Please listen to his story and his recovery.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 05.14.20

A Delightful Exposé of Ancient and Modern  Psychiatry

Professor of the Classics Michael Fontaine PhD was so interesting and inspiring two weeks ago talking about ancient pandemics that I asked him back to talk about two other amazing historical events:  One is recent, from the 1970s: the famous Rosenhan study, called On Being Sane in Insane Places.   Like many critics of conventional psychiatry, I was enamored with it.  Rosenhan sent normal volunteers into emergency rooms, instructing them to act entirely normal except to say they were hearing a voice saying “Thud.”  They were all locked up and given psychiatric drugs, and only other patients suspected they were not real patients.  Or so David Rosenhan’s “scientific” tour de[PB1]  force supposedly unfolded. It turns out he conned us, not the psychiatrists.  It’s an incredible story.  Michael follows up with yet another amazing story, very old:  A Roman play based on an even more ancient Greek play that offers a spoof on psychiatry and probably the first ever portrayal of abusive involuntary treatment.   Great stuff from a great and amusing scholar.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 05.06.20

With my new format that starts with breaking news, I talk about two new blogs by me and Ginger Breggin.  The first is a highly-researched report about all of the mistakes made by our New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who is setting a bad model for the nation.   It is aptly titled, “Coronavirus SOS: Save Us from Governor Cuomo.”  One part shows that once-secret army biowarfare experiments in the subway predicted how badly an epidemic would spread through the underground system and into the city.   The second blog goes deeper into rampant nursing home deaths in NYS and ends with the shocking conclusion that political correctness kills. Check out our growing Coronavirus Resource Page on www.breggin.com for all of our reports and for background information and science.

After my report, I interview Irish physician and psychotherapist Terry Lynch who is one the warmest and most intelligent therapists I have ever met, a man whose conversation I treasure, and someone you will be pleased to meet and to learn from.   He is one of my most favorite guests.    

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 04.29.20

Today my radio/TV show starts a new format.  The hour begins with my current news and analysis report.  After the report comes an interview or other topics. Today’s news focuses on a fake VA study claiming that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were causing the deaths of veterans hospitalized with the coronavirus, but I come up with a shockingly different analysis of its own data—and force a turnabout in the media. After the report, Bob Whitaker, journalist and scientist, gives an extremely informative and lively interview about the latest big lie from psychiatry (it is a whooper) and about encouraging developments in Europe with drug-free inpatient treatment.  This is truly a fine interview with one of the most effective people in the psychiatric reform movement.  A good Dr. Peter Breggin Hour.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 04.22.20

The Most Ancient Plagues:  Lessons for Us in the Midst of Our Covid-19 Epidemic

A stunning interview with Professor of Classics Michael Fontaine PhD about historical descriptions of the first recorded plague in Ancient  Greece.  It also raised interesting issues about women and children in class times.  This is one of the most interesting and enlightening interviews I have ever done.   It became surprisingly inspiring on how to live today in the face of the coronavirus.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 04.16.20

When the Shutdown Makes You Crazy:  At this time in the coronavirus pandemic,  when families are afflicted with so much stress and yet forced to remain together in the same household, conflicts and tensions are likely to heighten.   If approached properly, this close  proximity, instead of leading to tragedy, can lead to vastly improved communication and much better relationships.  My guest, psychologist Howie Glasser, and I discuss the most basic and important principles for having positive, rational communications that improve our relationships with those who matter in our  lives.   We provide guidelines and specific examples of how to change our approach to talking with those we care about and live with.   This is a good complement to the previous week’s Dr. Peter Breggin Hour, “Talking Together,” in which I cover similar issues in a presentation of my own, drawing on my many years as a therapist, husband and parent. 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 04.08.20

Talking Together: Foolproof  Principles for Great Communication

In this time of going stir crazy from the shutdown, this presentation could save your marriage and your family life.  It can help you handle any trouble you may have now or in the future communicating with your husband or wife, your children, your friends, coworkers or boss.  From decades of experience, here are four guidelines to vastly improve your life by vastly improving your relationships.  I start with Western saloons that had signs, “Leave Your Guns Outside.”  Even without guns or other weapons, we humans have so many ways of hurting each other in ordinary conversation.  Here we learn how to stop hurting each other and then go on to how to  make all of our words improve our communications and our most important relationships.   This is among my best-ever presentations and perfect for those of us who are shut-in with family.  It could turn those “inevitable” conflicts into the best times of our lives.  You may end up grateful to this lousy virus for forcing you into learning how to remake your most important relationships.  

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 03.18.20

A brilliant spontaneous transcontinental conversation between myself and Great Britain’s leading psychiatrist, Joanna Moncrieff.  We start with breaking news about the coronavirus epidemic in Great Britain, Europe and the USA, and the differing responses in various countries.  Joanna gives a remarkable critique  of the bizarre and unconscionable approval of Ketamine for depression by the FDA and describes the drug effects more clearly than you will hear anywhere else.   We also discuss the very latest research confirming that antipsychotic drugs cause brain damage.  We also talk about differing views on the US opioid epidemic.  Along the way we touch on differences between the British and US medical and psychiatric systems as well as an overall critique of worldwide psychiatry.   Just meeting psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff makes this information-crammed radio/TV presentation worth your time.   My wife Ginger and her mother Jean were “enthralled” by this show!

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 03.04.20

Epidemic Shame.  The radio/TV sequel to Epidemic Anxiety on the Dr. Peter Breggin hour on PRN.fm. 

Shame is the great leveler, the emotion that knocks down the mighty as well as the rest of us.  It is a biologically built-in red stop light that can prevent us from achieving our most creative and even loving goals.  Shaming has become a mainstay of politics and a tool for ruining the identities of boys and girls before they achieve adulthood.   It drives students on campuses to believe they cannot handle “triggers,” instead of standing up to them.  We often feel too ashamed to even recognize that shame is holding us back in our personal relationships and our broader ambitions.   This presentation will show you identify this emotion that lurks in all of us without exception.   I describe the origins of shame in evolution and childhood, and how to triumph over it.  One of my best-ever presentations, it is based on my book Guilt, Shame and Anxiety:  Understanding and Overcoming Your Negative Emotions.